"You are getting very sleepy...." For many people the word hypnosis conjures up the image of a beady-eyed Svengali casting a "spell" on his unwitting victims, forcing his will upon them, or the vision of a stage-full of people quacking like ducks and dancing like ballerinas. Other think of hypnosis as "mind control."
This is not so. Under hypnosis, you will not do anything that you would not do otherwise. You are always in control. While the "ducks" and "dancers" are probably hypnotized, they are not doing something against their own will.
Most people don't realize that they are already very familiar with hypnosis. Hypnosis is a very natural occurrence in "normal" people. In fact, normal people are very likely to slip in and out of hypnosis several times each day.
Have you ever failed to hear someone speak to you when you were deeply engaged in reading a book or watching a movie? Do you ever daydream or have you been "lost in your thoughts?" Have you ever driven a distance on the highway and not remembered the road? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes", you have experienced hypnosis.
Television advertisers, in particular, utilize this effective form of advertising known as "product placement". Have you ever wondered why you just had to have that new tool, or toy, or beauty product? When we watch something on TV, our defenses are lowered, and we become more receptive to messages that are coming at us.
Now that you know that hypnosis is natural and normal, what can you do with it? Besides the most well known and widely used applications for weight loss, smoking cessation, stress management, and performance enhancement, hypnosis is used in a variety of other areas.
It is applied in pre- and post-surgery uses to reduce anxiety and to promote faster healing. It is well known and proven (but unfortunately, under used) that hypnosis can reduce pre-surgical anxiety, improve post-surgical pain management, reduce complications, and speed healing. Historically, hypnosis has been widely used at the Mayo Clinic and other institutions to dramatically reduce the need for anesthesia in poor risk cardio-thoracic patients.
Hypnosis is used in cancer management. It can be used to reduce or eliminate nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and to mobilize the full power of the immune system to fight and defeat this dread disease.
Hypnosis has been used as an effective treatment for acute and chronic pain for more than 200 years. In the early 1800's, Dr. James Esdaile, a British surgeon in India, successfully used hypnosis for surgical anesthesia. More recently, trauma physicians used hypnosis for emergency pain control and anesthesia with victims of the Oklahoma city bombing.
Today, more than ever, hypnosis is being used in the management of chronic pain. Chronic pain is continuing pain that may be associated with a variety of causes. Hypnosis works well in many of these cases, replacing drugs and their potential side effects. Because the only side effect of hypnosis is relaxation, it works will with pain having no apparent cause and where anxiety may increase one's pain perception.
The most natural form of childbirth may be accomplished with hypnosis. Comfortable childbirth without the use of drugs or distress is possible. Babies tend to be delivered more quickly and easily. A woman can be an active participant in one of the most joyful, loving, and fulfilling events of her life.
NO - hypnosis is not a form of mind control, witchcraft, magic, or voodoo. Our mind is an amazingly powerful tool. Hypnosis is a natural and normal state with incredible potential. Learning to use this function is easy, enjoyable, and effective.
(This article appeared in the April, 1999, issue of Middlesex Magazine.)
"You Are Getting Sleepy" article was also published in the Eye Witness Newsletter, official publication of the AAmerican Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association, Summer/August 2001 issue
